Sequoyah: Inventor Of The Cherokee Writing System

Among individuals associated with the Cherokee and their forced journey to a land they didn'™t consider home, none was more influential than Sequoyah, the Cherokee who gave his people a system for recording and reading their language. Although not directly on one of the various trails that led from the Southeast to present-day Oklahoma, Sequoyah'™s birthplace museum is considered an important component for interpreting the Cherokee experience (it receives assistance from the National Park Service as part of its mission of managing the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail). The birthplace museum is an informative stop for travelers interested in learning about the history of the Cherokee and their forced migration west.

Eviction of the Cherokee from their Homelands

Eviction of the Cherokee from their Southeastern homeland was precipitated by passage of the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which called for forcing Indians to cede their lands and begin moving west of the Mississippi River. Although ruled illegal by the U.S. Supreme Court, President Andrew Jackson dared the court to stop him as he went forward with the eviction.  

Following passage of the act, several Cherokee leaders, acting without authority of the Cherokee government, signed a treaty that resulted in most members of the tribe being forced to move west in exchange for a payment of $5 million.  At the time of the treaty signing, many tribe members were successful farmers and storekeepers who had no interest in moving.  However, their protests fell on deaf ears.  

Beginning in May 1838, thousands of Cherokee, along with African-Americans and Creek Indians, were forcibly removed from their homes and temporarily detained in camps in Tennessee.  Records indicate that nearly 7,000 Cherokee were interred before being forced to head west to Indian Territory.  The 800-mile trip west required up to half a year, during which many participants lost their lives.  The suffering and loss of life resulted in the journey becoming known as the Trail of Tears.

The National Trails System and the Trail of Tears

Trail of Tears National Historic Trail was established in 1987 as a component of the National Trails System that currently consists of 30 national scenic and historic trails, including such well-known units such as the Pony Express National Historic Trail and the Appalachian National Scenic Trail, in addition to lesser-known units such as the Star Spangled Banner National Historic Trail.  The system'™s trails are managed by various public and private entities but officially administered either by the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, or some combination of the three. 

The NPS-managed Trail of Tears stretches over 5,000 miles through nine states and includes numerous sites identified with the removal of Native Americans from their historic homelands in the Southeast. Many of the trail'™s most important sites and interpretive centers are located in Tennessee.  One of these, Red Clay State Historic Park, marks the location of the Cherokee capital prior to their removal.  Ross'™s Landing on the riverfront in Chattanooga is the site of a depot where thousands of Cherokee left for the journey west.  Hiwassee River Heritage Center in the town of Charleston marks the site of Fort Cass, one of three major emigration depots, and the military'™s headquarters for the Trail of Tears removal.

The Cherokee Writing System

Prior to the early 1800s, the Cherokee had no writing system that allowed them to put their thoughts to paper, either to communicate with one another or to record their history.  Although a number of Cherokee allied with the United States to fight the British and Creek Indians in the War of 1812, they were unable to record events or even write letters home to family members. It was not until the 1820s that a half-Cherokee, half-white man called Sequoyah developed a system of written communication for his people.

Sequoyah was born around 1776 to a Virginia fur trader and the daughter of a Cherokee chief.  After serving with the United States in the War of 1812 and witnessing how soldiers utilized written communication, Sequoyah returned home with an interest in developing a writing system for the Cherokee people. His first attempt at making small drawings, or pictographs, for each word of the Cherokee language quickly became much too complicated and was discarded.  He then began working on a system of symbols that represented each of the 86 sounds of the Cherokee language.  It required 12 years' of effort by Sequoyah before he and his daughter introduced the written language to their people. Less than ten years later, Cherokees were publishing educational materials, legal documents, and a bi-lingual newspaper.  

The ability of an uneducated man who could neither read nor write to develop an alphabet that his people could quickly learn and utilize is an amazing feat.  For this contribution, the Cherokee Nation elected Sequoyah as its representative in Washington. It also struck a silver medal in his honor and provided a lifetime pension.  Although there is no definitive proof, many experts believe German botanist Steven Endlicher named the giant sequoia tree to honor Sequoyah.

Visiting the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum

The Sequoyah Birthplace Museum is located in eastern Tennessee, approximately 40 miles southeast of Knoxville near the small town of Vonore. The museum offers a video presentation, displays to help visitors understand the syllabary developed by Sequoyah, an overview of the removal of the Cherokees, and artifacts relating to the Trail of Tears.  According to musem Director Charlie Rhodarmer, approximately 18,000 visitors are welcomed each year.

The museum, which will be undergoing a substantial expansion, is owned by the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians, who hold a 99-year lease on the land that is owned by the Tennessee Valley Authority. The tribe is in the process of leasing a portion of the property to developers of a resort that is expected to help fund the planned expansion.   The museum is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., except Sunday when it opens at noon.  It is closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year'™s Day.

Several other sites related to the Trail of Tears are near the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum.  Fort Loudoun State Historic Park has a reconstructed fort modeled after the 1756 British fortification that was captured and destroyed by the Cherokees in 1760.  The Hiwassee River Heritage Center in Charleston offers exhibits and information regarding the importance of Charleston that once served as the site of the Cherokee Indian Agency and, later, the military'™s operational headquarters for the Cherokee removal.  Outside the town of Cleveland, Red Clay State Historic Park served as the location of the Cherokee capital prior to the Indian removal.  The park offers replicas of 19^th-century Cherokee buildings and an interpretive visitor center.